The Parliament of the Philippines approved a bill that aims to increase the state’s gold reserves. By law, small mining companies are exempt from income taxes and excise taxes if they sell the mined gold to the Philippine Central Bank.

Senator Juan Edgaro Angara, the author of the bill, reported that between 2005 and 2010. The country's central bank bought from local gold miners 1.000.000 ounces of precious metals, which corresponds to 2362 gold bars. But in 2012, sales of gold to the state fell to 35,000 ounces, since taxes were raised on it. In 2017, this figure dropped even more to 14.700 ounces. According to the senator, in September 2018, the state bought only 7,600 ounces of yellow precious metal from gold miners (19 bars).

Many central banks of the world are now pursuing a policy of increasing their gold reserves, as they are not subject to fluctuations in the price of gold compared to the rates of the main currencies of the world. Therefore, the presence of gold in the country's international reserves makes its financial system more stable and creditworthy.